State to let students budget, vote on how to use federal COVID funds
HARTFORD — The state education department will soon publicly announce an initiative that lets students determine ways to spend COVID-relief funds.
Voice4Change invests $1.5 million of the state’s allocation of federal funding into proposals put forward by students, who may then campaign for votes in favor of their initiatives. The program could mean more input from students — and more state dollars into local schools.
“It’s not about them without them,” said Charlene Russell-Tucker, the department commissioner, at a family and community engagement roundtable this week.
“We’ve got to hear from our kids,” she said. “They’ve got a lot to say, and we’ve got a lot to learn from their voices.”
Department officials said school districts are in the process of opting into the program, which will officially launch next month.
“Voice4Change is grounded in the idea that we need to not only be engaging our high school students, but also preparing them to civically engage in the world around them post-graduation,” said Madison Csejka, executive assistant to the deputy commissioner.
“We’re harnessing the power of ‘participatory budgeting’ to do this, which is a fancy way of saying we’re letting the students participate in the budgeting process,” she said.
Csejka said some schools and districts have tried similar initiatives at the local level, but Connecticut is the first to do so statewide.
Students at self-selected high schools will receive guidance that department officials said is accessible to teenagers, and attend webinars about crafting and writing proposals.
“We really want to model how budgeting works in the real world, whether it’s your personal life or your future career,” said Csejka.
They can then submit proposals tailored to their schools to the state education department, which will vet them for proper budgeting and alignment with Connecticut’s priorities for relief funding, including: learning acceleration, student well-being, technology, and family and community connections.
“It can’t be a concert, a trip to the moon,” she said.
“We’re super excited to see what students come up with because we’re really expecting them to come up with some things that even we didn’t think of,” said Csejka.
The teens will campaign for their proposals, until in March, each school will hold an election for students to vote for their topchoice ideas, so even those who did not craft plans can participate in the civic process.
Department officials reported mostly smaller school districts have opted into the program so far, and encouraged larger districts to participate.
Voice4Change joins a growing list of grants that the state has made available to local schools and programs, including summer enrichment and afterschool, and high-dosage tutoring grants.